Photo: T.S. Custadio aka ToddC4176 at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Wareham has higher household incomes than 68% of U.S. towns
6.7% of residents are in poverty, where Massachusetts as a whole has 10.0%. Wareham grades B+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. The trip to work takes 28 minutes on average; Massachusetts averages 29, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Wareham
Where Wareham’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wareham is better than 65% of U.S. towns, #206 of 283 in Massachusetts. The poverty rate holds Wareham’s grade up; unemployment pulls it down (4.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wareham could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Wareham
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
How a workday changes Wareham
On a workday 9,583 residents head out to work, 1,463 work right here, and 6,330 people come in from elsewhere.
About 20,000 people are in Wareham on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.71 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
12% of working residents work in Boston
Where Wareham clocks in
12% of workers
6% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Jobs in Wareham: what the 7,793 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wareham, 2013 → 2023: 7,079 → 7,793. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Wareham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Wareham: about 28 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wareham workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,358 commuters (the 12% who work from home are left out). Across Massachusetts: 75% drive alone, 8% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Driving is how Wareham gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wareham is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns, #195 of 283 in Massachusetts. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 14.1% across Massachusetts.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 11,825 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 30% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 6% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 61% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.2% of Wareham households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Wareham’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,577 U.S. towns of 17,000 to 32,000, Wareham comes 814th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Hopkinton MA | 19,866 | $223K | 2.5% | 2.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Hingham MA | 24,481 | $178K | 4.3% | 2.4% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Reading MA | 25,803 | $166K | 3.2% | 3.3% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 812 | Powder Springs GA | 21,004 | $105K | 14.6% | 4.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 813 | Milwaukie OR | 22,114 | $87K | 7.9% | 5.8% | 7% | B+ |
| 814 | Wareham MA | 23,689 | $90K | 6.7% | 4.6% | 13% | B+ |
| 815 | West Warwick RI | 31,487 | $78K | 9.6% | 4.2% | 8% | B+ |
| 816 | Cicero NY | 30,815 | $96K | 10.5% | 4.5% | 10% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,577 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Wareham, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Next door is work for 12% of Wareham
The biggest share goes to Plymouth (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wareham workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wareham | – | B+ | B | 28 min | $90,383 |
| Marion | under 2% | B | A− | 34 min | $143,092 |
| Plymouth | 6% | B+ | A− | 31 min | $116,941 |
| Bourne | 4% | B | B+ | 26 min | $91,058 |
| Rochester | under 2% | A− | C− | 37 min | $120,273 |
| Buzzards Bay | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Carver | under 2% | B+ | C− | 33 min | $91,250 |
| Middleborough | 2% | B+ | B | 31 min | $97,056 |
Same-state neighbors only. Buzzards Bay: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wareham’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Wareham: questions
What is the median household income in Wareham?
$90,383 (±$10,660) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wareham?
6.7%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wareham?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wareham work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (12%, 42 mi), Plymouth (6%, 10 mi), Bourne (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wareham walkable?
Wareham is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wareham without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 6% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wareham, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wareham
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.